Welcome to the Circus
by ToiletWater
Summary: When Alice and Mallory's mom abandon them, they're forced to move into this strange neighborhood called Fear Street. It IS kind of exciting, though. Even if the name is strange, the surroundings are peaceful. And there's a circus coming to town! What fun!


"Girls, wake up," their father urged as they pulled into the driveway of their new house. A two-day trip, they had slept the last three hours of it under a red-and-black checkered blanket. Finally, after living in this old van for a week, they found a house. The agent had told them they could own the place for some thing like $500 all together. Benjamine Ainsley, after having been evicted for already three days at the time, and the paperwork began. Mallory, the oldest of the two identical twins, awoke first, stretched, and patted her sister on the shoulder to wake her up.

"We're here?" drawled Alice, blinking her eyes open. Mallory nodded quietly. Even though they were 17, Alice- at least- could be very whiney when awoken. But now, she just rubbed her eyes, thankful to have a place to live other than this car. They both hated to admit it, but dad was kind of pathetic with out mom- at least at the current situation. Anna had turned up pregnant, thus prompting Benjamine to quit his job and start preparing so that she wouldn't have to. Only two months into it, however, she came out as being a lesbian, had the child aborted and filed for divorce. It had all come at once. She was supposed to stick around and help her dad pay for his appartment until he could get another job, but had fled off with some one shortly after that, and left Alice and Mallory with him. When he couldn't pay the rent, he was evicted, like any one else would be, and now here they stood in front of a large, old-fashioned looking brick house in a semi-rural neighborhood known as 'Fear Street.' The front of the house was severely over-grown, it looked like no one had mowed it in a while, and there was a place for plants up by the porch but it seemed every thing there had died. It was dirty, and a little bit eerie because of the almost isolation of the neighborhood, but aside from that, seemed like quite a sturdy building.

"It's kind of small," Benjamine began, already starting to unload the few suitcases from the trunk; "and you two may have to share a room for a while, but it'll be better than this."

"I miss Clover," Alice whined as she got out of the car, steadying her feet. Mallory got out on the other side. It was one of those moments when Benjamine swore he had double vision, as Mallory had said the exact thing at the same moment. Clover, their special puppy, had also been taken by their mother. Needless to say, both girls were very upset with their mother.

"We'll get another dog in a few weeks, after I get a job, okay, girls?" Benjamine tried to comfort them both. Alice half-heartedly took one of the bags, saying;

"But it won't be Clover."

"I know, girls, I know." Benjamine sighed. The whole experience had been awful for them, despite their age. He couldn't blame them. Their entire world had been ripped away and they'd been sent to live in this strange world in return. They were both trying to be optimistic, but their father had enough common sense to understand that, well, they weren't. "But it's the best I can do. Now, help me carry some of these bags..."

All together, there were 5 bags. Dad said they could get new clothes after he got a job. Both of them hoped he'd get one soon. Alice wanted a dog more than she wanted clothes. Clover had been a birthday present for the both of them, but she had bonded to Alice more. No one knew quite why.

The house was small, but it felt big and empty. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and a dining room. It was quiet. The floor had mostly stained, beige carpetting, and the places where there wasn't there was linolium. There were gaps between the carpet and linolium in some places. No wonder he'd gotten the place for only $500. There was even mold in some places, and it was old, the appliances looked like they hadn't been updated in over a hundred years. The paint was chipped.

"It _is_ kind of cool," Alice finally said, turning on a light. "I mean, we're the first people to live here this century."

Mallory smiled at her. "Yeah. It'll look great once we can change some things around, though."

Benjamine put their few cans away in the kitchen pantry and plugged in a lamp, turning it on. He looked around, obviously prioritizing. "The only thing that's an actual problem is the mold." he said simply. "That'll have to get fixed soon, or we'll all get sick."

"Hey, dad," Mallory said, cutting into his musings; "is it okay if we go walk around and check out the neighborhood?"

"Sure." he nodded. "I'll finish getting some of this stuff put away. Just make sure you remember your way back. If you're gone longer than an hour, I'm coming to look for you."

"Okay. Come on, Alice. I saw the highschool not far from here." even if their dad couldn't, Mallory could tell that- even though Alice was warming up well to the idea of the house- she was still feeling kind of down. "We could find out if they have a drama club."

"Okay, Mal." Alice responded, albeit reluctantly. She did love drama club. She stood up, trying to push concerns about her appearance away as she followed her twin sister out the door.


End file.
